Shunned
by Kitai Shinsei
Summary: Alex is a vampire, and his soulmate Jake is human. Now they are shunned for that as well as their forbidden love. Can they cope? (I suck at summaries ~.~)


Disclaimer: The Night World and all its characters and plot lines belong to L J Smith and I'm not making any money off this.  
  
Author's Notes: I felt like writing a Night World fic in which two guys find each other to be their soulmates and here we are. Yes, this does involve my own characters but I've tried not to make them Mary Sue. And just to draw your attention back to this fact: It involves GAY people. Don't like, don't read, don't flame.  
  
~*~  
  
Title: Shunned Chapter: 1 Author: Kitai Shinsei  
  
It's difficult not to fall in love when you're alone together in the dark.  
  
Alex Blackwood stepped quietly down the street, trying to keep in the shadows as much as possible. This was quite difficult considering this part of Florida had very sparse trees and palms didn't offer much shade in the first place. The fact that it was also the middle of the day didn't help. My parents had to choose Florida, he thought bitterly. Why on earth did they chooses someplace this hot? This sunny? The sixteen-year-old leaned against the wall and sighed. On the street, the tarmac shimmered and a hot wind blew towards the sea.  
  
Alex felt the familiar breathlessness and knew he'd better feed soon. He'd been in the bloodlust before and had killed three students from his old high school. That was when he was fourteen and he had no wish to repeat the experience. His parents had moved from Ohio to Florida a couple months afterward, and Alex hated it here.  
  
Alex picked up the sound of footsteps and gazed through the hot wind up the street. Melissa, a girl in his class was approaching him. This should be easy enough, Alex thought. This girl was absolutely head-over-heals for him. No one blamed her. Alex was gorgeous with raven black hair, bright sapphire-blue eyes, ivory white skin and an incredibly fit body. Almost every girl in the school, even the older ones and some of the guys, were completely in love with him. Alex waited for her to get closer.  
  
"Hey, Mel," he said, looking into the girl's eyes, "How're things going?" Melissa blushed and met his gaze. That was all it took. Alex preferred to hypnotise his prey so they didn't struggle, and also so they never remembered their ordeal which meant Alex didn't have to kill them. Alex skinned his lips back from his teeth in a sort of grimace. His skin turned so pale it was almost translucent and his blue eyes blazed with their own fire as his canine teeth grew long, delicate and pointed. He leaned in and sank those fangs into her neck. Life-giving blood flowed down his throat and he felt the blissful oxygen returning to his starved body.  
  
Alex stopped drinking and shook Melissa gently. "Mel? Mel?" The girl opened her eyes. "Wha.What happened?" she mumbled looking around confusedly. "You fainted. Must be the heat. You should go home now." He stared at her. "Yeah. Home. That's right." She said, still confused. Alex left her.  
  
"Alex! Hey Alex!" The vampire whirled round at the sound of his name a few minutes afterwards. He relaxed when he saw it was just his friend, Jake Freeman. No, Alex corrected himself. Not a friend. He couldn't be friends with a human. The laws of the Nightworld forbid it. Well, not really, but it was risky. "Hi Jake." He said guardedly, trying to ignore the jolt somewhere from the pit of his stomach that he got every time he saw the brown haired boy. "Hey, man, did you see Melissa? She's walking around completely out of it. People are gonna think she's high." Jake laughed as he thought about it." Alex smiled sadly. "Maybe she is." He said.  
  
"Alex? What's up?" Jake asked. Alex sighed inwardly. Jake considered him to be his best friend. Alex wanted that to be true with all his heart but that wasn't possible. If he ever let anything slip about what he really was.  
  
"I'm fine. Just hot." Alex replied. Jake accepted that. He knew his friend was sometimes prone to heat stroke and was sensitive to sunlight. Some kind of skin problem or something, Alex had told him. "Yeah, well. I better be getting home. See you tomorrow!" And Jake clapped him on the shoulder.  
  
At that point the whole world stopped. From his shoulder, Alex felt electricity curse through him. His head swam and he felt as if he was floating in a strange light. Then it was over and Jake was staring at him with an expression of shock on his face. 'What was that?" The brown-haired boy asked. He looked visibly shaken. "Um.I think it was.static electricity." Alex replied, thinking fast. "Must be a storm coming." Jake seemed to accept that. "Yeah. Whoa, some storm." He said, laughing it off. Alex stared at him. How could this be?  
  
*  
  
Alex lay on his bed, thinking about what had happened that afternoon. Had he.could he have possibly found his soulmate? The one destined to be with him forever, for all eternity? But that was impossible. He came from an old vampire family. How could he find a human soulmate? And Jake.Jake was a guy. Why him? Why?  
  
Alex had known for a long time that he was gay. He never said anything to anyone and had tried to deny that fact for a long time. He tried to deny the fact that he was in love with Jake, had been since they first met. That's why he always avoided spending too much time with him. It wasn't safe. Not for Jake. Not for Alex. The laws of the Nightworld forbid it. If the Nightworlders, even his own parents, found out he loved a human, it was likely they would both be killed. No questions asked.  
  
Alex suddenly remembered something that made him brighten. He leaned over to his bedside table. He picked up the phone and dialled the number of a nearby hotel. "Hello? Could you put me through to James Rasmussen's? Tell him it's Alex Blackwood. Yes, he does know me." The irritating nasal female voice on the other end told him to hold. The irritating hold-music blared through the receiver and Alex cringed. "Alex?" Came a familiar voice. "Hey James." Alex replied. "Hey, what's up, buddy?" Alex sighed. "Look, I don't want to discuss it over the phone. Think we could meet outside the mall tonight?" There was silence for a while. Alex heard James talking quietly with someone. "Alex?" "Yeah." "I'll see you there. Eight-thirty OK by you?" "Fine. Thanks James." "No problem."  
  
* Alex waited impatiently outside the mall. He knew the place well: It was one of his favourite hunting grounds. "Come on, Rasmussen. Where are you?" He muttered, looking around through the darkness. "Right here." Came a voice by his ear, making him jump about a foot in the air. "For the love of all that is, was or ever will be holy.James, don't you EVER do that again!" Alex yelled. James had to clutch the wall to stop himself collapsing from laughing.  
  
"And what is so funny?" Came a new voice. Alex whirled round to face a female vampire. Great. He couldn't talk to James with her there. James sobered up. "Poppy, this is Alex. Alex, Poppy. My soulmate." Alex's eyes took on a wistful expression. "Soulmate?" James looked at Poppy and nodded. James put his hand on Alex's shoulder. "You've found yours, haven't you?" He asked. Alex nodded, a lump rising in his throat. "She's human, isn't she. Otherwise you wouldn't have come to me." Alex started to nod, then realised what James had said. "Human, yes. She, no." Alex looked at the two other vampires and watched as realisation dawned on their faces.  
  
"A boy? Your soulmate's male?" James asked gently. Alex nodded again. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I've always known I was gay and ever since I met Jake, I've secretly loved him. But he's never seen our friendship as more than that. Friendship. And that's the least of my problems. If the rest of the Nightworld finds out that I love a human." He broke off and looked at James and Poppy, fearfully.  
  
"I was human, once. James changed me to stop me from dying an awful death from cancer." Poppy said quietly. Alex looked at her, surprised. He had never heard that before. Only that James was involved in a group that helped Nightworlders with human soulmates. "We'll help you Alex. Circle Daybreak is setting up a post here in Florida. You can join. James and I are going to see it on its feet and then head back to Las Vegas." Alex smiled at her gratefully.  
  
*  
  
Alex found Jake on the beach the following day. It was one of the few beaches in Florida that wasn't plagued with people on a daily basis. Today, this early in the morning, there was only a dog patrolling the surf. "Jake?" Alex called. Jake looked up surprised. "Hey, Alex! What're you doing here?" Alex sat on the rocks next to him. "Looking for you, actually." Jake looked surprised. "There a problem?" Alex nodded. God, he loved Jake. He'd refused to admit it for so long.  
  
"Jake, there's something I've wanted to say for a long time now." God, this is so cliché, he thought. He looked at Jake who was staring at him, waiting for Alex to go on. The black-haired boy sighed. "I.I'm gay." He met his soulmates eyes. To his surprise, Jake looked neither shocked, nor angry. Just.as if he'd always known. "Go on." The boy said quietly. Alex found his throat constricting. It was so hard to say this. What if Jake was repulsed by what he said? He took a deep breath. "And.I.I love you." Alex cringed, waiting for the sound of Jake yelling at him, or even getting up and walking away without a word which would have been even worse.  
  
When reprisal never came, Alex looked over at the boy he loved. To his complete and utter surprise, Jake was staring at him with eyes filled with joy.and love. "Ever since the day we met I've wanted you to say that." Jake said in a choked voice. "I've loved you since the moment I saw you. There's been something about you that's drawn me to you for three years. I didn't say anything because I was scared of how you'd react if I told you I was gay."  
  
Alex realised he was beaming, then he realised what had just happened and the smile disappeared. "Alex, what's wrong?" Jake looked confused. Alex turned to face him. He gripped Jake's shoulders tightly. "You say you love me. Will you believe what I say to you, no matter how outrageous and impossible it may seem?" Jake nodded and stared at the black-haired boy. "I'm.I'm a." Jake nodded at him, waiting for Alex to go on. "I'm a.vampire." Jake jumped back, shocked. "Please, Jake. You have to believe me."  
  
Jake turned on Alex with angry eyes. "How can you ask me to believe you? That's not just outrageous. Outrageous, I could have believed. This is down right not true. He turned away, looking hurt. Alex sighed. "Jake. Look at me." Jake faced him. "I didn't want to do this." Alex skinned his lips back from his teeth in an all too familiar gesture. He felt his fangs grow and knew, by the look on Jake's face, that he was terrified.  
  
*  
  
Jake stared at the monster his best friend had just become. He felt himself shivering and gripped the rock he was sitting on to prevent himself from keeling over in a faint. He looked away and when he looked back, Alex had resumed his normal form. "I'm sorry. I had to make you believe." Alex whispered. Jake made a decision right there and then. Alex looked so sad and alone, so venerable that suddenly, Jake realised he wouldn't have cared if Alex had suddenly revealed he had three other heads. He took Alex's face in his hands and gently kissed his lips.  
  
Sparks flew. The world around them was suddenly filled with little pink sparkles and white flashes. This is what they'd been born to do. What they'd needed to do for years. Yes.  
  
From nearby, the dog that had watched them the whole time turned and loped up the beach.  
  
*  
  
Alex opened the door to the house in a happy mood. He had never felt so good in his life. Jake had accepted everything Alex had told him. About the Nightworld, Circle Daybreak.and the soulmate principal. He and Jake had wanted to make love right there on the beach but Alex had had to go. He needed to feed. Jake had accepted that too.  
  
The black-haired vampire stepped into the kitchen and knew something was up. His father stood up. "Alex, we are very disappointed in you." Alex looked at them puzzled. A hand of fear began to clutch at his heart. They couldn't know. Could they? "We don't believe you could do something like this. You've shamed the whole family." His mother said. "We were able to cover for you after you killed those people in your old school. Luckily the Elders believed that you went into bloodlust and therefore could not stop yourself. This was intentional."  
  
Alex took a deep breath. "What are you talking about?" He said, trying to keep the stammer out of his voice. His father slapped him across the face with enough force to sent him flying across the kitchen. Alex quickly got to his feet and assumed a sort of fighting stance out of habit. "You and the human." His father snarled. You were seen by a shapeshifter scout.  
  
Alex reeled. The dog. A shapeshifter. "You do realise the effect this has on the family?" His mother shouted. Alex nodded numbly. "And you realise that that boy is to be killed?" His father said, glaring at the young vampire. Alex looked up sharply. His father wasn't kidding. Alex stared at his parents. "Never." He whispered dangerously. His father took a threatening step towards him. "What did you say?" "I said you'll never kill him. He's my soulmate. He's mine. You won't harm him."  
  
When his father made a lunge for him, Alex ran. He raced out of the door, tears streaming down his face. He tore through the streets to Jake's house, fearing he may already be to late.  
  
*  
  
Jake made his way home in a daze. He couldn't believe what had happened to him in the space of two hours. His entire life had changed in seconds. He smiled to himself as he thought about the kiss. They were soulmates. Destined for all time to be bound to one another.  
  
Jake started as he felt a hand on his arm. He looked into the face of a man, taller than himself and frighteningly beautiful. Vampire. Jake thought. Oh no. They knew. Alex had warned him about the laws, as unbreakable as diamonds. "Hey, friend." The vampire said, smiling maliciously. Jake tried to shove the vampires hand off his arm but all that happened was the grip on his arm increasing with enough force to break it.  
  
"Let me go." Jake whimpered as the pain kept increasing. "I don't think so, vermin. You know about us. Now you and your little lover-vamp are gonna die." The strange vampire grinned evilly again and tightened his grip on the sixteen-year-old's arm. Jake tried to pull away.  
  
The vampire tightened his grasp and a sickening crack resounded down the street. Jake screamed in pain. The vampire covered his mouth with a hand that was stained in Jake's own blood. Suddenly the vampire was lying sprawled out on the street, Alex standing over him with a murderous expression. The vampire got to his feet, angrily. "Ahh. So here's lover-boy. Here to defend your precious human?" He mocked. Alex held up his hand revealing a stake. The vampire's face took on an expression of fear. Then he grinned. "I don't believe you have the guts for it." He said and grabbed the almost unconcious Jake's neck. Alex moved with lightning speed. He plunged the stake into the vampire's back who screamed and began to shrivel. Soon all that was left was a bag of dried skin, covering some bones.  
  
Alex knelt down next to his soulmate. "Alex." the boy mumbled weakly. Then Jake passed out.  
  
*  
  
Alex was carrying Jake to James's hotel when the blue convertible pulled up in front of them. Alex stiffened, ready to fight to the death if necessary, which it probably was. The car door opened to reveal James in the driver's seat, Poppy on the passenger side. They both looked grim. "Get in. Now." James ordered. Alex compiled, placing the still unconcious Jake in first and climbing in afterwards.  
  
"Is he OK?" Poppy asked, looking back at them. "I think so. Some vampire cracked Jake's arm right before I staked him. I set it as best I could." Poppy nodded and turned to face the front again. They continued to drive for a while and Alex noticed they were leaving Florida far behind. Probably a good thing, he mused.  
  
"Alex?" Came Jake's voice from next to him. "Jake! Are you OK?" Alex asked, relieved that the boy was OK, but still worried about his injuries. "I think so. Where are we?" He winced, "It hurts." Alex cringed to hear Jake's voice sound so weak. "We're in a car. My friends are helping us. You'll be all right. Just go to sleep." Alex smoothed his soulmate's mussed hair. Jake nodded slightly, then closed his eyes.  
  
"James?" Alex asked. James looked back at the young vampire through the rear-view mirror to show he was listening. "Where are we going?" James looked ahead again to watch the small amount of traffic one finds in the middle of nowhere. "Vegas." He replied simply. "You two will be safer there. More security." Alex looked at him sceptically. "More security? In Vegas?" He asked. Poppy looked back at him. "Circle Daybreak headquarters. You'll like it there. Thierry's in charge." Alex looked up shocked. "But he's an Elder, isn't he." Poppy smiled at him. "Yup. With a human soulmate." Alex leaned back in the seat. Things were looking up after all.  
  
*  
  
Two hours later, James arranged for Jake to go to a small out-of-the-way clinic. There were mostly human doctors there and the only Nightworlders were part of Circle Daybreak. Jake was in shock from his ordeal and had to stay overnight. Alex never left his side.  
  
The next day, the vampires found willing donors among the witches and other human soulmates. They were on their way by noon, back on the road to Vegas. Jake's forearm was covered in a white cast. Some of the Circle Daybreakers had signed it with messages like 'Good Luck!' and 'Be safe!'  
  
Alex stared out of the car window at the drab scenery. They were heading out into the semi-desert close to their destination and all that was visible was cactuses and sparse foliage among miles and miles of sand. The vampire looked at Jake who was sound asleep with his head on Alex's shoulder. Alex reached out and gently caressed his soulmate's hair. Jake smiled in his sleep.  
  
~*~  
  
OK, what do you think so far? Please R+R 


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